Brooklyn Block Associations - Latest Updates
Mulching at Mount Prospect Park on May 30
I got an email telling me that the Friends of Mount Prospect Park would be mulching the trees and cleaning up litter in the park on Saturday. Wondering what was going on with their effort to prevent the building of a massive skate park, I decided to go find out. When I arrived I met Hayley Gorenberg the president of the Friends group. She pointed out two large piles of mulch, supplied by the Parks Department, left near the bathroom down the hill from where we were and pointed out trees on the plateau where we were standing. She told me there was a wheel barrow down the hill and the mulch would be brought up to put around the trees. I offered to get the mulch but she rejected this offering, saying there was someone down the hill who would do this. So I lingered by a tree that had a sign attached to it reading, “Don't Pave the Park.”
Soon after I met a woman named Isabelle. I remembered that she had been present at the Community Board 8 at which Martin Maher had described the project and many people had spoken up in opposition. However, the plan had been voted through. Isabelle was incensed at what had taken place and told me some of the objections to the skate park in the park. First of all, while the world is suffering from climate change, and we have a president who regards the problem as a hoax,w hy would we want to pave over more land. If there must be a new skate park surely it would make more sense to put it on land that is paved over. Second, she pointed out that if you create a map showing where all the existing skate parks are, one would find they are mostly in the northern part of Brooklyn and there is virtually a desert in the south. New ones should go in the south. Third, this project was created with virtually no community input. It was planned with no publicity starting in April of 2021 and the public did not find out about it until January, 2024, when Mayor Adams announced four new skate parks with no community input at all. Three of them were in paved spaces; only the one in Mount Prospect involved covering up land with concrete. The Friends of Mount Prospect Park rejected the proposal as did Community Board 9. Only Community Board 8 approved. At the presentation at Community Board 8, Maher said that skate boarding is growing in popularity, and there must be a park where competitions can take place. In other words, skate boarders and the skate board industry must be served, and whether local communities want this facility is pretty much a matter of indifference. I told Isabelle I thought these points were good ones, and that I too am opposed to the building of this facility right smack in the middle of the park.
Isabelle and George 3.1
Soon George came up with a wheel barrow of mulch and we began to spread it around the nearby trees. Also more people came to help. The next person show up was a woman named Isabel who had two small dogs with her. We began working together and talking. It turned out she lives in the east part of Crown Heights and walks to the park with her dogs. She also works at the Brooklyn Museum, and so she often takes her breaks in the park. She told me she is adamantly opposed to the skate park which she feels would make the area much worse. She said the park is used by lots of people who live nearby and enjoy it the way it is. However, it could be improved. One thing Maher mentioned was that the open area has been become hardened over the years so that it is compacted. That makes it hard to grow plants in it. Isabel said, “So why don't they aerate the soil and make it productive again. It is though they are saying their neglect of the park is an excuse to pave it over” Good point!
Isabel and her two dogs 3.2
After we distributed the wheel barrow of mulch, I took a little walk around to see what was going on. What I found confirmed what those opposed to the skate park have been saying. Despite the lack of vegetation in the open area, there was a lot happening. I found a big group was having a picnic. Adults and children along with dogs were grilling food and having a great time under a tree near the open area. When I went over, a friendly woman told me this get-together happens regularly during the summer. When I asked her about the skate park, she groaned. “Let's not talk about that. We are having such a good time. What a terrible idea it is!”
Families gathered in the park 3.3
While the adults mostly stayed where they had settled down, their children were running free everywhere else, playing chasing games, walking with dogs, and sitting down to talk about whatever important things they had on their minds.
With more mulch having arrvied I returned to tree care. This time I met a family made of two parents and a small girl. Waykin, Anne and Sybil were working industriously and I was surprised to find out that they were friends of my neighbors the La's. They have been to their daughter Ava's birthday party. They too hoped the park would remain as it is though it could use some sprucing up, but there was no need for the skate park.
Waykin, Anne and Sybil 3.4
So eventually it was time to wrap things up. I said good bye to the young Isabelle and her dogs and Hayley. The latter gave me a document criticizing the actions of Crystal Hudson. I asked if she wanted it to be published by me, and Haytley said yes. She thought that it would be better to show what Hudson had done rather than try to convince her to change her position.
Hayley and Isabel 3.5
So I agreed to publish it. It follows this article. On June 10th I got a notice that members of the Friends group had submitted testimony about the park to the Finance Committee of the City Council. The fight it not over!
-John DeWind
Two pages of the leaflet about Crystal Hudson 3.6, 3.7
